1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an adhesive tape for painting and a method of manufacturing the tape. More specifically, this invention relates to an adhesive tape for painting that is used in painting vehicles such as automobiles and motorcycles and a method of manufacturing the tape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, there are cases that outer surfaces of body parts of vehicles such as doors, hoods, fenders, roofs of recreational vehicles and side covers and fuel tanks of motorcycle, are painted with two-tone color for providing beautiful images and high quality feeling. Such two-tone color painting has been conventionally carried out by spray painting in which paint is sprayed onto a painted surface after a preliminary treatment such as a primary coating has been made.
Such spray painting requires several steps including spraying a paint and then drying it in each of painted colors, so that it takes a relatively long time to complete all the painting steps, thus resulting in lowered productivity. Further, volatile organic medium is discharged into the atmosphere in each spraying step causing environmental problems.
In order to solve these problems, a coloring method using a colored film for painting has been proposed. According to this method, a colored film having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is attached onto a part to be painted for providing coloring. As for the colored films, several types of films have been proposed. For example, a colored film is know that is produced by adding a paint or a pigment into a resin material and then forming the material into a film using a flow casting method and a colored film having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer containing a pigment for coloring.
However, these colored films do not exhibit satisfactory color development and do not have sufficient reproducibility since the paint or pigment is contained in the resin material or adhesive in a dispersed state. In particular, in colored films of metallic color, uneven coloring (flashing) or streaking is likely to emerge, thus leading to the case that the value of the product is markedly impaired.
In addition, the colored layers or adhesive layers of these colored films have to have a certain thickness for concealing the ground color of the surface to be painted, so that the films have less flexibility. This also results in a poor followability when attaching the film to a part having a large area or a corner part, and therefore the attaching operation is troublesome.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an adhesive tape for painting which can provide color painting with a simple operation, can be easily attached to a large area part and a corner part, and can provide various paintings with good reproducibility.
In order to achieve the object mentioned above, the present invention is directed to an adhesive tape for painting that comprises an adhesive layer having a top surface; a paint layer including paint and provided on the top surface of the adhesive layer; and a clear coating layer laminated on the paint layer.
According to the present invention, a painting adhesive tape having a paint layer formed of paint itself is realized, so that quite the same finish as that obtained in the case where the paint is directly painted can be obtained. As a result, metallic color painting of a special color hue can be performed with good reproducibility. Further, use of the painting adhesive tape of the present invention can simplify the painting process greatly, so that productivity is markedly improved, resulting in a reduction of cost.
In the present invention, it is preferred that the adhesive tape further comprises a protective tape that is laminated on the clear coating layer. This makes it possible to prevent the clear coating layer from being damaged at the time of transportation of the adhesive tape or of attaching the tape to the painted surface with a squeegee.
Further, it is also preferred that the paint contains urethane-based resin as a base material. Since such urethane-based resins are normally curable at relatively low temperature, the paint layer composed of such paint can be formed with ease.
Furthermore, it is also preferred that the adhesive layer is formed of a pressure-sensitive adhesive which contains acryl based-resin as a major component thereof. The acryl-based adhesives have small initial tacking property and therefore they can be repeatedly peeled off and stuck from and to an adherend, so that they are easy to handle. Further, after sticking, the adhesive force is enhanced with the lapse of time, so that lifting or peeling off will not occur.
Moreover, it is also preferred that the clear coating layer contains urethane-based resin as a major component thereof. Since the urethane-based resins can form sufficiently elastic and flexible paint layers, the painting adhesive tape having such clear coating layer will not be hardened. Further, such clear coating layer has excellent appearance and excellent luster as well as heat resistance, durability, weatherability, and resistance to chemicals, and therefore such a clear coating layer is suitable as a clear coat to be laminated on the paint layer.
Further, in the present invention, it is preferred that the thickness of the paint layer when dried is from about 5 xcexcm to about 40 xcexcm, and the thickness of the clear coating layer is from about 5 xcexcm to about 50 xcexcm.
Further, in the present invention, it is also preferred that the breaking strength of the tape is from about 0.196 MPa to about 4.9 MPa. This provides the painting adhesive tape to have excellent flexibility and imparts it with sufficient followability for attaching it to a part having a large area or a curved part such as a corner part, and therefore the handling and workability are improved.
Furthermore, it is also preferred that the breaking elongation of the tape be from about 10% to about 150%. If the breaking elongation is less than about 10%, the impact at a low temperature is deteriorated. On the other hand, if the breaking elongation exceeds about 150%, there is a fear that the clear coating layer will give a tacky or sticky feeling. Further, similarly to the above, by setting the breaking elongation to the above range of about 10% to about 150%, the painting adhesive tape can have excellent flexibility and sufficient followability when attaching it to a part having a large area or a curved part such as a corner part, and therefore the handling and workability are improved.
Moreover, the adhesive tape of the present invention is preferably used for painting vehicles. By using the painting adhesive tape of the present invention for painting vehicles, it is possible to make a painting with excellent beautiful image by a simple process. Further, it possible to cope with diversification of design with ease, so that the commercial value of automobiles and the like can be markedly improved.
These and other objects, structures and advantages of the present invention will be apparent when the following description of the preferred embodiment will be considered taken in conjunction with the appended drawing.